India’s largest co-working space provider Awfis Space Solutions has raised ₹137.43 crores ($20 million) in series C funding from existing investors venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, The Three Sisters: Institutional Office (TTS:IO), and innoVen Capital.
These fresh funds will be used to expand its geographical presence to new cities, focusing on tier 2 cities, and follow a ‘managed aggregation’ model to ensure better capital efficiency.
Awfis has so far raised ₹350.52 crores ($51 million) in risk capital, including a ₹137.43 crores ($20 million) series B round led by Sequoia Capital in 2017. The company is speculated to be valued at more than ₹900 crores ($130.8 million).
Co-working space provider Awfis was founded by Amit Ramani in 2015 with strategic backing The Three Sisters: Institutional Office (TTS:IO). With the help of Awfis’ technology platform, users can book work-desks, private cabins, and meeting rooms across India on a just in time basis. It provides space for flexible time periods varying from 1 hour to 1 year.
It has also partnered with leading hotel chains, banks, and commercial space owners to curate a wide network of high-quality meeting rooms that can be booked through its website or mobile app.
The company currently has 25,000 seats across 55 seats in the country, and it aims to reach 40,000 seats across 90 cities in the next year.
India’s coworking market has grown by over 50% in 2017. According to JLL, India’s coworking market is anticipated to grow by 40-50% to reach 10 lakh square feet of leased area with a total investment of ₹2,749 crores ($400) million by the end of 2018.
Cities like Delhi, Bengaluru, and Mumbai are the biggest contributors to coworking spaces in India, due to the surge in the growth of startups. Over 70% of startups in the country are based in these three cities. With many startups coming up every day, there is a huge opportunity for growth in this space.
Other startups providing competition to Awfis in the coworking space include WeWork, BHIVE Workspace, Innov8, 91springboard, and Creator’s Gurukul, among many others.